Obsession

Guardian, 29 July 1997
Just mad about the boy
by Sally Weale

The current hot news story is the elopement to America of Sean Kinsella, aged 14, and his mum's best friend, Tracey Whalin. Whist Sean flew back to the UK for a reunion with his mum, Tracey appeared in court in penitentiary pajamas, 'chained and shackled like a child murderer', facing up to 20 years inside. Weale examines the nature of obsessive behaviour, something which grips us all at some stage, and reminisces about her own crush on The Jam's Paul Weller. She notes that in a bewildering world we develop obsessions by which we define and in which we root ourselves - be it to create art or to go to the gym. Most of us eventually shake ourselves free with no harm done. 'Tracey Whalin, however, will pay dearly for hers'.